The Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) is a joint continental initiative by African countries for infrastructure development. This article examines the role of PIDA in driving infrastructure development in the continent.
PIDA was established in 2010, as the latest in a series of efforts by the African Union (AU) for infrastructure development. Prior to PIDA, the Short-Term Action Plan (STAP) was adopted in 2002. However, STAP was only intended to address short-term infrastructure needs lasting for five (5) years. After its 2007 deadline, it became obvious that a more comprehensive and long-term approach would be needed to tackle infrastructure issues in Africa. Furthermore, development, integration, and cooperation were laid out as the core pillars of the African Union’s Strategic Plan for 2009-2012. Consequently, PIDA was established in 2010 with all African Union (AU) Member States, pledging their cooperation to resolve infrastructure challenges in Africa in a way that promotes continental integration.
Although different African countries and organisations have their respective national infrastructure development initiatives, PIDA is significant for its potential to address the weaknesses of isolated efforts for infrastructure development in Africa, especially inadequate funding, lack of regional cohesion amongst others. This is very essential to enable African countries to consolidate their national initiatives for infrastructure development under a collective regional umbrella.
PIDA accomplishes this by first identifying specific needs in different African regions and by planning projects to meet those needs. Afterwards, the African countries whose territories will be affected by the planned projects are consulted regarding the projects beforehand. For example, the Trans-Saharan Road project spans across as many as six (6) African countries: Chad, Libya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Tunisia. Thereafter, financing for the project will be secured through various sources including the AU Member States, foreign partners, and regional financing institutions such as the African Development Bank (AfDB). In addition, regional organisations like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are also instrumental in facilitating cooperation amongst the countries involved as well as monitoring the implementation of the projects. Overall, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) remains at the helm of affairs, coordinating all the actors involved in PIDA projects and ensuring alignment of these projects with AU’s broader goals.
Like its predecessor, STAP, PIDA covers four (4) major infrastructure sub-sectors: Energy, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Transport, and Water. However, unlike its predecessor, PIDA has a long-term vision split into three (3) different phases known as priority action plans (PAP). The phases and their corresponding timelines are as follows:
- Phase 1 (2012-2020)– PIDA PAP 1
- Phase 2 (2021-2030)– PIDA PAP 2
- Phase 3 (2031-2040)– PIDA PAP 3
It is now thirteen (13) years since the establishment of PIDA and five (5) years since the conclusion of PIDA’s Phase 1. Some of the laudable achievements of PIDA include: increased electricity access in the continent, enhanced internet connectivity, increased intra-African trade and ease of cross-border movement. Within the energy infrastructure sub-sector, PIDA has established various power generation, power transmission and clean energy projects like the Batoka Hydropower plant, the Chad-Cameroon transmission line and others. These energy projects have provided access to electricity for approximately 30 million Africans. Also, ICT broadband penetration in Africa has increased by 25%, which exceeds the 10% target set by PIDA. Through its African Internet Exchange System, PIDA established internet exchange points in over 40 African countries. Instead of relying on foreign exchange hubs to route their traffic, internet service providers in Africa can use the infrastructure established by PIDA. Furthermore, intra-African exports increased by 16% due to enabling cross-border transportation infrastructure like the Abidjan-Lagos highway, Dar es Salaam – Isaka – Mwanza railway and so on fostering trade activities amongst countries. In addition, PIDA established One-Stop Border Posts which are special border crossing points that consolidate border control procedures to ease movement of people. Currently, construction of ten (10) One-Stop Border Posts have been completed and there are many more under consideration. The construction of the border posts once completed will harmonise movement of people which is an incentive for trade and economic activities across African countries.
Nevertheless, despite its noteworthy achievements, PIDA still struggles with some issues which frustrate its optimum operation and may undermine the actualisation of its objectives by the 2040 deadline. These issues include but are not limited to: insufficient funding, project delays, and uneven distribution of projects across Africa. Regarding funding, the total estimated cost of implementing all PIDA projects by 2040 is approximately $360 billion. However, there is a substantial funding gap, with only $82 billion currently mobilised. Also, due to the coordination challenges of multiple stakeholders, differences in countries’ construction regulations, political instability in some partner countries, and other constraints, PIDA projects often face delay in actualisation. This is inevitable as PIDA involves many stakeholders at both national and regional levels which could potentially slow down decision-making amongst implementing parties and implementation timescales. For example, there were 433 projects covered under PAP 1 which is an enormous workload to be achieved within 10 years. Although, there has been an improvement to the first phase, with only 50 projects, 10 per sub-region (Central, East, North, South, and West) selected in PAP 2 which commenced in 2021 for better implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation of the projects.
Furthermore, there is an uneven distribution of PIDA projects across African countries. At inception, there was a comprehensive consultation process with regional stakeholders including the regional economic communities (RECs), agencies, ministries, and development institutions to discuss the selection criteria for projects, debate potential projects, and decide on projects to be included in PIDA. At the end of a 2-day consultation held with each stakeholder, a project list was finalised as a product of a region-wide consensus. Nevertheless, the selection of these projects can easily exclude certain countries with countries like Cameroon and Nigeria being involved in more than five (5) PIDA projects while others like Eritrea are less involved. It can be argued that countries included in the scope of PIDA are strategic to continental infrastructure development, however, it is important that no country is left behind, especially least developed and fragile countries on the continent.
In conclusion, the achievements of PIDA since its establishment signal its great potential for impactful infrastructure development in Africa. But without addressing the problems that plague PIDA, the 2040 deadline is at risk and PIDA may become just another unfulfilled dream in a long string of AU development efforts.